Butler police are investigating a fatal shooting this morning at an apartment on Wick Street. But investigators were releasing little information about what happened.

“There's a lot going on and we're still trying to find out information,” said police Detective Lt. Anthony Fatta.

Authorities have not identified the male killed in the shooting at the complex known as the Wick Street Apartments, which abuts Memorial Park. It was not immediately known if the victim lived at the apartment.

Police were called to the apartment for a reported shooting around 10 a.m. That call came 20 minutes or so after a Jeep crashed into a house on West Penn Street in the city.

Two black males reportedly jumped out of the Jeep and ran away. Police would not say if they believe the crash was related to the shooting.

Butler Ambulance Service was called to the complex and a stretcher was wheeled over to the apartment. A short time later, an officer escorted two females out of the apartment. One of the females appeared to be a teenager and the other was older, a woman possibly in her 30s or 40s. The older woman was crying.

The officer led the two to an unmarked car where they presumably were taken to the police station for questioning.

Fatta was seen searching the surroundings for evidence after being called to investigate the shooting. Butler police Detective Nathan Shulik took photographs of he crime scene.

A short me later, several state police criminal instigators arrived. After that, a county detective and an assistant district attorney drove up together in a car.

Not long after, a young woman who lives at the adjoining apartment returned home, unaware of what happened. She was not immediately allowed into her apartment.

She said she had only recently moved in. She said she had previously complained to the owner of the complex about the loud noise and constant “partying” coming from the apartment where the shooting happened.

At the home on West Penn Street, tenant Ernest Thomas, 26, was upstairs with the youngest of his children, a 2-year-old daughter, getting ready do some errands with his wife before going on to work. At the time, his wife was in the basement.

“I heard a loud thud,” he said. “I ran out to see what happened. I saw the tree had been knocked down and the lattice and railing (on the porch) had been knocked down.”

Up against the tree, porch and side of the house was a black Jeep.

“I saw two guys,” Thomas said. “They were in the Jeep. They looked out and then jumped out They took off running.” He described the men being in their 20s or 30s.

Police Lt. Brian Grooms said it appeared the Jeep was northbound on Wagner Avenue when the driver traveled across West Penn Street, over the lawn and into the house.

Thomas said he recognized the man who got out of the passenger side of the Jeep. He knew the man only as “A.J.”

He also remembered seeing the same two men and the same Jeep about 30 minutes earlier at the A-Plus convenience store on West Jefferson Street.

“They were driving recklessly around the parking lot,” Thomas said.